woensdag 17 december 2014

DELLYS

RUSUCCURU

This is
nowadays Dellys at CapeBengut near the mouth of the
Oued Sébaou on the Algerian coast. The Phoenician name is probably R ’ šh q r = Cape of the partridge (in Hebrew qore
means partridge) or Cape of the fish
(roussoukour).Another explanation could
be, that the name is derivation of the Berber Sekkum > scur> A-scur-um
and that means again “partridge”. A last explanation comes from G.Mercier (Note sur l’etymologie du nom
Rusuccuru, BAC 1918 1918, p.110). He reads for –uccuru the Phoenician word qrt (qart=city). M.Euzennat (L’Histoire municipale de Tigzirt.
1955) however points at the double C, which does not corresponds with the
Phoenician qrt.

The naming
by the Greeks is done by Pseudo Skylax (iii) as ‘Eβδομος = Hebdomos, which
means the 7th(Cape?). Ptolemeus (IV 2,8) calls it Rousoukkour. In Latin
it develops to Rusuccuru > Rousekkourt > Rous, Ousekkourt > Asekkourt
(Berber). Plinius (NH V 2,29) calls it “civitate honoratum a Claudio”.
Martianus Capella describes the place as a Roman colony. In the Bellum Africum
(23,1) the place is called oppidum Ascurum (46 BC). Dio Cassius (LIX) and Suetonius
Caligula take notice of a rebellion under Aedemon (Phoenician name!), but
Claudius restores the order in this region. In the classical traditions the
town is mentioned 22 times in 17 different sources.

Controversy:

In the past
one has for a long time thought that Rusuccuru was identical to Tigzirt. See: CRAI 30th year no.2 1886:
Lettre à M.Héron de Villefosse, sur la position de Rusuccuru par M.Pallu de
Lessert. This was done,
because Rusuccuru was several times mentioned at Tigzirt in the old
inscriptions. Then, a milestone was found near Dellys which indicated a
distance of III miles (4.8 km) to Rusuccuru. This find was done 4.5 km west of Dellys.
This suggested that the ancient site should be placed not at Tigzirt but rather
west under the modern town of Dellys.
The argument has not seemed convincing to everyone and a controversy sprung up.
The controversy seems to be settled in favour of the Dellys – Rusuccuru
identification, because of a dedication was found on CapeDjenet,
which mentions the inhabitans of Cissi to the time of Alexander Severus. This
implicates the identification of Rusuccuru with Dellys and Iomnium with
Tigzirt. See: S.Gsell,
Découverte d’une borne militaire établissant que la ville antique de Rusuccuru était
à Dellys, BTCH 1912.

Findings:

- A hoard
of Carthaginian coins from the 3rd century BC.

- Neo-Punic
steles: A humanized ‘sign of Tanit’ surmounted by the disk and crescent symbol.
In another stele the ‘sign of Tanit’ is shown in a tympanon with the crescent
and ‘cake-crown’ symbols beneath. In the third Neo-Punic stele we see a funeral
inscription. This all shows that a tophet must have been there and a sanctuary
of Baal Hammon. From a later period there are also steles, but they are
anepigraphic (2nd cent. AD). In the old town of Dellys a memory stone is incorporated in a
colonial building of the French period.

- Old walls
especially in the west.

- Roman cisterns
at Sidi Soussan.

- Roman mosaics.

- A sarcophage.

- Medaljons.

- Amphores.

The last
two items come from the hospital and the mosque.

Under
Claudius (50 AD) Rusuccuru was an important city, but the meagre archaeological
documentation from the Punic period does not prove the existence of a complete
Punic settlement.